The Lonely Dance
by Samuel Summers
Summary: A complex, funny, scary tale involving the infamous Dover Demon. The Doctor heads for a coffee after ridding Amy and Rory's new house of monsters, but instead of arriving in a cafe he arrives in an expansive mansion where a monster seems to haunt a girl.
1. Introduction

**The Lonely Dance**

**Introduction**

A dull murmuring hummed through the River Dream Cafe in London. It was mostly empty, except for a pair of couples who sipped coffee quietly, grinning in their quaint surroundings.

A bubbly young lady, blond and plastered in blatant make up, burst through the door; slicing through the silence with the subtlety of a supernova. Several heads turned, but she was oblivious, babbling into her phone with utter contentment.

"Yeah, the lead actor was stunning, right... I loved his hair! What was his name agai- You didn't like him? Oh, well neither did I really, but – get this – Chloe though he was gorgeous! I tried telling her..."

Her inane chatter continued in a similar suit as she made her way to the counter. She waited there for a brief moment, but was not served. She grunted in dissatisfaction and pocketed her mobile.

"I want a coffee with two sugars!" she announced loudly, "And hurry up; I've got Danny on hold..._She hates hold_!"

From beneath the counted burst a man, a hair net placed lopsidedly over his mop of floppy dark brown hair, and an apron thrown crudely over a tweed suit, complete with bow-tie. He examined the beverage-requiring specimen in front of him with a look of distaste - almost disappointment - before resolving himself.

"Oh, how _awful _for her," he mourned with mock sympathy, "That'll be..."

He spun round and glanced at the price list.

"£1.80... no £1.50... definitely not £2.40... no, £1.70. One pound seventy!"

"Don't worry, I get mixed up with letters all the time, too!" she consoled him, "No, wait; _numbers!_ Well, to be fair, I struggle with both..."

The man behind the counter was stunned by her ignorance. She continued.

"You're right, it is pretty awful for Danny. I feel bad having her on hold. It's like I'm blanking her, or..."

She searched for words and the man comforted her with heartfelt sympathy. _Sarcastic, _heartfelt sympathy...

"Oh, it doesn't even bear thinking about!" he said with anguish, "What if she hung up on you! To think, I could be held responsible..."

"Yeah, that'd be, like, well... bad. But I wouldn't blame you..."

"I was patronising you."

The girl frowned.

"You're French?"

Dumbfounded by her ignorance, he peeled away from the counter, as if resisting the urge to strangle the infuriating woman.

A staff member rushed from a back room, tripping over an unconscious body who's hairnet and apron were suspiciously absent...

"Sir!" yelled the staff member, "Who are you and... did you knock out...?"

The recipient of this questioning waved a small leather-bound notebook in the man's face impatiently, before glancing at it himself.

"I'm the Hybrid Infector!" he stated hurriedly, before rushing off to find a mug, or a coffee machine, or anything that was conducive for producing a caffeinated beverage.

"The _what_?" barked the man.

"No, wait," the man glanced at the notepad once more, "the Hygiene_ Inspector_!"

He had found a key component in his task: a coffee machine, complete with mugs. The going was slow, and he seemed frustrated. The coffee machine was the unfortunate victim of his angst.

"Work, damn it!" he ordered, hitting the machine. The staff member was still skeptical. He gestured towards the unconscious

"Did you... knock him out?"

The man gave the staff member a scathing look.

"I just exposed him to a hypnotic audio frequency!"

A vacant stare beamed back at him.

"He's sleeping!"

The staff member seemed satisfied, if not a little confused. The blonde girl tapped the counter, her long nails loudly vying for attention.

"Don't worry, princess; your coffee is almost ready..."

Increasingly irritable; the man whipped out a long, thick metallic gadget that glowed green at the tip and hurriedly buzzed the coffee machine. The coffee filled the mug in an instant, and then overflowed; spilling all over the man's front.

"Have your infernal beverage you ignorant, insecure and insufferable imbecile!" he snarled, struggling to keep his voice level.

The cafe ground to a halt, its occupants staring uneasily. The blonde girl stared at the overflowing drink.

"Sugar?"

The man breathed deeply, calming down. A thought occurred to him and he produced something small and unseen from his pocket. He hesitated for a moment, uncertainty written all over his face, before emptying something small and white into the coffee. It fizzed gently.

The girl took the coffee with a "humph" and sat back down. The man sighed with mental exhaustion and stress.

"Danny? Danny, I'm back! Some idiot in a bow-tie was- Danny?" she barked into her phone, before realisation dawned on her and she broadcasted it the cafe:

"_She hung up on me!_"

After a few minutes, the tension in the cafe diffused. The strange hygiene inspector left, giving the cafe a rave hygiene review and pausing by the door only to utter to the chatty blonde girl the strange words:

"Bow-ties are cool."

Many of the other customers also left after all of the commotion, leaving only the blonde girl and the flustered staff member.

But after they all left, something else entered. It was small, grey, humanoid yet distinctly alien. It looked savage and made a beeline for the girl. Without moving its lips, its voice boomed throughout the cafe; rattling the mugs and vibrating the floor.

"You guessed his name like no before you. You love him as if you've known him forever, when really you only just met. How is that possible?"

The girl was dumbstruck. She froze.

"Where is he?"

"W-who?" she mumbled, her eyes wide with horror as they were fixated on the beast.

"Where. Is. THE DOCTOR?"


	2. Chapter 1

**I**

The Doctor slumped against the jutting stalagmite that was the TARDIS' control frame and heaved a bellowing sigh of relief.

_Good grief!_

He slid downwards, slumping against a eclectic assortment of miscellaneous objects, littered across the circular dashboard in an utterly eccentric, desultory yet distinctly "Doctor" fashion.

He abruptly coughed, and a column of grey dust erupted from his lips.

_Those Weeping Angels! _

He jabbed lazily at a knob that more closely resembled a salt shaker than any high-tech instrument. The pillar of dust was sucked away by the TARDIS ventilation system.

As he continued to slowly slip down the frame, fatigue and apathy near-consuming him, he was acutely aware of something rubbing against his side. His hand plunged into his tweed blazer and emerged clutching a handful of straw.

_Those scarecrows!_

He tossed the strands into the air and lashed out with his arm, striking a lever that, to the untrained eye, appeared to consist of an torn umbrella and a high-heeled shoe. A laser fired from some corner of the TARDIS, incinerating the straw.

His slow descent continued at a crawling pace, and finally he hit the floor, sprawled out in exhaustion. He felt a prickling sensation in his right ear, so he tilted his head and slapped his other ear comically, like a child trying to regain hearing after emerging dripping wet from a swimming pool. Out of his ear trickled a stream of small cogs.

_Those Clockwork Androids!_

He clawed absent-mindedly at a slider consisting of a Ukelele sellotaped to a plunger. The cogs were matter-transported to River Song's cell.

His head began to lull as he drifted gently towards sleep; his surroundings became blurred and indiscernible and the eccentricity of his thoughts amplified.

_Daddy, do African people eat fast or slow? _he asked the bannister in front of him, whose lack of response annoyed the shattered Timelord.

_Fine, be like that. I've always got Amy, _he thought spitefully, gesturing towards the chair.

"I need your help, Doctor," replied the chair.

"You always need my help," the Doctor mumbled incoherently, "I just rid your entire house of monsters!"

"You hid my fire-mouse's hamster?" the chair replied, "Look, Doctor: Rory and I were moving furniture to the cellar and we found some slime, and I think it might be a Terraform, so could you... you know; sort it out?"

The Doctor snapped out of his waking slumber with a jump and glanced at the TARDIS' monitor, from which beamed Amy Pond's inquisitive face.

"Not just yet, Pond! This Timelord needs a coffee!"

He tore across the TARDIS, tossing his jacket onto the bannister which, just seconds ago, had been his father and spun a dial which seemed to be made of an egg-timer mounted on top of a turtleshell.

Out of his jacket pocket climbed a tiny Adipose, which glanced at him timidly, and made for the door, its tiny legs struggling to gather momentum.

"Aha! _There_ you are!" yelled the Doctor in triumph, bashing a myriad of TARDIS controls that imprisoned the tiny creature in an unseen forcefield bubble. The Adipose charged at his unseen confinement several times, but was sent flying backwards each time. Eventually it grudgingly accepted its fate and sat frowning on the floor, its tiny arms crossed in annoyance.

The TARDIS boomed noisily to life, and the Doctor was ready to embark to one of his less-exciting destinations: The River Dream Cafe, London.


	3. Chapter 2

**II**

The Doctor ran back inside the TARDIS once more to check - just one more time.

"No. Can't be."

But it was; according to the TARDIS navigation system, he was stationed in front of the Espresso Room. And even worse; it said he was moving. Yet what was even _worse _was the fact that the TARDIS was perfectly stationary. In fact, what was _even worse_ that that was his actual location.

The TARDIS was parked on the lush, green, seemingly endless estate of a huge, stately Manor House.

"Nah. Must be a glitch with the navigations system. Probably the Perpetual Extra-terrestrial Geo-Stationary systems..."

His hands danced across the TARDIS controls, the only respite from such technological genius was the periodical scan of his Sonic Screwdriver, executed with such rapid precision it become a green smear of light and a shrill buzz of sound.

"Nope. All in order."

He glanced out of the door at the majestic mansion.

"I am most certainly in a cafe..."

He stepped out of the TARDIS and swung the door to a close.

"And yet I am most certainly not..."


	4. Chapter 3

**III**

It was coming for them, running at break-neck speed like a cheetah, rebounding off of the walls, paying no heed to gravity as it sprinted at jutting right-angles off the walls. It seemed to be growing larger with each stride. The Doctor gazed into its bulbous eyes for a few moments before realisation hit him hard and fear hit him harder. He did what he always did when he was scared:

"RUN!" he bellowed, grabbing the girl's hand and diving through two tall wooden doors, buzzing them shut with a wave of the Sonic Screwdriver.

"Do you see what I mean?" pleaded the girl, fear gripping her intelligent, piercing blue eyes, "It haunts me! It knows when I'm scared! I've never seen it grow that large, I..."

A steady thumping filled the large room, coming from behind the heavy wooden doors, which buckled under the strain. The Doctor took the girl's hands.

"It's OK, you've got me," consoled the Doctor, "Right now, we need to get somewhere safe. Somewhere defendable."

"What d'you have mind?"

"Somewhere with water. A swimming pool, perhaps?"

"Erm... I think I've seen one before..."

"How can you be so unsure; you live here don't you? Is there anyone else here with you?"

"No, I'm all alone. Just me."

The Doctor surveyed her with a look of puzzlement.

"Well... not _just _you..."

They both spun round. The thumping had stopped. They both looked at each other. The girl made a timid proposal:

"Maybe the monster's-"

The monster erupted from the doors, now over seven foot tall in length.

"-gone?"

They ran. The girl screamed. The Doctor cheered.

"Running from monsters with a pretty girl down corridors! Give me a fez and I'll die a happy man!"

"This way!" the girl yelled, and they took a sharp turn down a passageway, the monster's footfalls growing dim as they ran.

They turned another corner and the girl threw open a door. They let out a collective gasp at what lay inside.

_A swimming pool._

A vast, expansive and elaborate swimming pool. Gold-plated showers surrounded the circular pool, and several large cylindrical slides snaked through the air, water erupting from their mouths.

"Perfect," mouthed the Doctor, before inquiring, "Wait... you say you live alone? Who maintains all of this? The chlorine pipes, the drainage and waste filtering... who looks after this pool?"

"You tell me. I've no idea. This entire building is... enchanting. But suspicious. I sometimes wonder if- _wait_: what about the monster?"

As if on cue, the monster erupted through the doors, heading right for them in a blur of pale skin and red eyes. They didn't have time to react; it charged at them with malice.

The Doctor shielded the girl, ducking. It was over. They would be torn to shreds...

It leapt over them, landing in the pool with a splash. It dived underneath the surface, out of sight. Relief washed over the Doctor and the girl. The Doctor gingerly walked the to the side of the pool, inspecting the alien. The girl followed him, standing by his side, studying an entirely different alien, before fixing her gaze on the swimming monster.

It was pale, yet humanoid. Its limbs were thin and gangly; its torso small and round. Its head was the most fascinating part of its body; shaped like a vertical peanut, with no mouth to speak of and two large red eyes that examined the pool with grim fascination.

"You know what it is, don't you? You've seen it before, am I right?" the girl asked.

The Doctor was impressed. He turned round and faced the girl. She was in her twenties; pretty, blonde and tall. She seemed intelligent, defiant and strong. Yet lurking behind such a fascade was a tinge of sadness that could be glimpsed in the corner of her lips when she smiled and somewhere in the murky blue depths of her eyes.

"What is your name?"

"Heidi. Heidi Guevera. I know that you don't have a name."

"What? How could you possiblt know that?"

"You arrived at my doorstep to save me from a monster, took me by the hand and lead me here without barely saying a word. Then you examine the monster without saying hello. When prompted, you only ask me for my name, without introducing yourself. Someone as selfless as you doesn't need a name, only a title. You're not the only one who's all alone."

The Doctor was taken aback by her keen observation.

"I'm not alone anymore, Heidi Guevera. And neither are you" he took her hand, "I've come to fix that. I am the Doctor."


	5. Chapter 4

**IV**

The Doctor and Heidi were briskly leaving the swimming pool. The Doctor locked the door from the outside with a whisk of his screwdriver.

"So...what was that thing?" Heidi enquired.

Suddenly, the door let out a groaning protest as it was charged at from the other side.

"Come, Heidi. We need to move."

They broke out into a jog as the Doctor filled her in.

"You humans might know it as the Dover Demon. In the 70's one of them was sighted in Massachusetts near a lake by some teenage boys. Of course, since they were teenagers nobody believed them because teenagers are always wrong, always ignorant and always up to no good in the mind of most adults. A fallacy, you understand, but that's irrelevant..."

The Doctor glanced behind him at the door that was about to break.

"They're dangerous creatures. Scavengers. They're also known as the Mannegishi in old Folklore. I prefer that one to Demon. More syllables. They become solitary as soon as they become pubescent - can't blame them really; being told you're wrong, ignorant and up to no good all the time could drive anyone to being a hermit. Well, not in my case. Well, sort of. I'm a hermit with friends and time machine. The best kind..."

"... turn left..."

"...anyway; they communicate telepathically and they're a lot smarter than you'd think. Smarter than most humans, even. Probably not as smart as you..."

"Why, thank you," Heidi smiled as she ran, diving through corridors, "and I suppose that means you're not human either, right?"

"Very astute, but we'll get to that later. The Mannegishi like to swim, as you saw. They can convert chemicals in the water into nutrients during diffusion; that's why our Mannegishi left us alone. Instincts, I suppose..."

The Doctor slowed his pace.

"Wait, wait, wait. I've missed something. I'm ignoring something obvious- I can tell. I've got a headache and that's normally me being stupid and my head beating itself over the head with a hammer. No, wait I definitely only have one head."

He pinched his cheeks and yanked his hair, just to be sure.

"Two hearts, one head; two hearts, one head..."

"You have _two hearts_?"

The Doctor stopped, head in hands, murmuring under his breath. Heidi looked back and stopped.

"Doctor! We need to move"

"There's something I've ignored. Something crucial. Something _huge_.

"Your fez is falling off..." pointed out Heidi; pedantic despite the urgency.

"I'm wearing a _fez_?" the Doctor yelled in surprise. examining his unforeseen headgear with intrigue, before tossing it aside, "No, no, no! That's important, but that's not _it_."

There was an almighty, unseen crash.

"The door must have broken, Doctor! We _need _to move!"

"No! There's something screaming at me with a big neon sign that's says 'Look at me, I'm screaming at you with a big neon sign that says...' No, forget that, that's a rubbish analogy. It's probably not even an analogy..."

"_Doctor! _It's here!"

It was huge, bigger now than ever before. It looked like a rabid dog; an expression of vacant, primordial lust and desire adorned its face. It was getting dangerously close.

"Doctor, you're going to get us killed!"

"But there's about it I've missed! It's... It's-"

"But, Doctor, it's-"

"It's _getting_ _bigger_!" they yelled in unison, before running for their lives.


	6. Chapter 5

**V**

The Doctor and Heidi were in one of the large water slides in the swimming pool. They made up a complex holistic network of cylindrical chutes above the pool, with water trickling throughout them all, eventually converging to one exit that splashed out into the deep-end.

"I managed to lose my fez..."

"That is _the least _of our worries right now, Doctor!"

"It was a nice fez, though. Had little golden tassels on it and everything..."

"Do you think it'll come back?"

"Nah. Fezzes aren't too great at self-sufficient transport. Give them a head to sit on, though, and they'll go all the way to Gallifrey and back..."

"Not the fez! The Mannegishi!"

"Cor, imagine if I _did _have two heads. I could wear multiple fezzes and eat multiple jammy-dodgers simultaneously..."

"Doctor? Are you even listening?"

"I'm trying very hard not to. Just a theory I've got... Have you ever eaten a jammy-dodger?"

"What d'you mea- No. No I bloody haven't..."

"You haven't lived."

"Doctor, is this important?"

"Crucially. Just keep your mind off of you-know-what and you'll be fine. Trust me."

"Tell me, Doctor; why exactly should I trust you? I know almost nothing about you."

He spun round to face her.

"No, you tell _me_, Heidi; why exactly should I trust _you_? You live in a mansion all on your own, haunted by demons. You haven't the vaguest idea about the mansion's blueprint, and yet fortunately the one room werequire happens to be the first room we check..."

"Well, I never really..."

"But you're incredibly intelligent. You're nearly half as smart as me. Well, more like a quarter; but that's still _incredible_. Yet with all that brainpower you never once decided to assess your bizarre predicament?"

"Well, I never really thought about it like that."

The Doctor studied her gravely.

"That frightens me more than any demon; those thoughts going on in your head."

Suddenly, a splashing and scratching of claws could be heard.

"Doctor, the Mannegishi!"

"Forget about it."

"How can I forget about it?"

"Pretend it doesn't exist."

It turned the corner, it was less than fifty yards away from the Doctor whose back was turned. It seemed to be smaller than before.

"Doctor, are you insane?"

There was no reply. It prowled closer, surprisingly slow.

"It's behind you!"

"Oh no, it isn't!" he chimed enthusiastically.

"You're crazy," Heidi spat, before taking off; sprinting down the aquatic tunnel and disappearing out of sight.


End file.
